Don't Stare

How often as a little kid I head those words, don’t stare! Sometimes you just couldn’t help it, the guy had a monkey on his shoulder, or that woman was wearing her dress backwards! Well those would be extreme cases, but you get the idea. I remember at New Frenda Youth Camp one summer on Sabbath we played a Waldenses role play game. We had to smuggle Bible verses to a secret location (well not to us) without being caught by soldiers. I did get caught once and set to jail. Then myself and another camper were sent before the queen (Tim Putt with wig and all, quite a sight), and were ordered to at three different intervals along the big concrete staircase that lead up the side of the hill stop and shout “The Queen’s hair is so fair I can’t help but stare.” (The rhyming helps me remember it.) And then we were released to get more scripture.
I read in a funny and inspiring book my dad gave me called “Here I am Lord- Send Someone Else!” By Kurt DeWitt about the staring habits of Kenyans, apparently they like to stare at everyone. Here I think that may be the case too, but I have a feeling it is reserved for those of paler skins! Yet I too have the staring bug at times. You see here people don’t live by matching colors, well at least the villagers don’t. You may see a bright pink top with some yellow and red skirt, but it’s not so simple. The designs are crazy. You may be familiar a little bit with African prints. I have seen clothing with drawings of fingers, of an entire antique living room, of American dollar bills, of just crazy swirls and squares. It is entertaining! One guy at church has this shirt that is blue and yellow with some East Indian type design. Twice I ended up sitting behind him and trying to figure out what was on the back of his shirt. People buy the fabric and then the tailor or seamstress makes it, and sometimes it can be sideways or upside down if it is a recognizable thing. So I study this shirt, I thought maybe it was some sort of worm with wings, or a backwards fish thingy, like those weird deep see blind fish. Then the second time it clicked, it was an upside down elephant head! Oh how fast the mystery went away.
There’s another mystery I have been trying to solve here. Well it’s not completely mysteriously, I know the reasons, I just wished I had the exact answer. Like I am distracted by weird designs on clothing, people here are distracted by Satan. Yes that sounds obvious, but the one area really baffles me. I invite people to church or a evening meeting and they will say right to my face, I will be there, and they don’t show. Well that’s happens all over the world. But this last Sabbath was a real puzzler. There is a man from Ghana who repairs shoes on the market, he said to call him and we’d go to church together. I did call him and he’d said he take a moto-taxi and come. . But he did not show. I went to go get a friend to go to church, he was still sleeping, his sister said he’d be ready later and come. He didn’t come. As I walked to church from the second friend’s house, another friend say me in the street, and asked me what I was doing, I said going to church. He said I will come. I told him it is at 11 o clock church service. He said he’d go shower and come. Our church is right beside a well known private school, so many people find it easily. He didn’t come either. Two hours before church I invite someone, and they still do not come! I was just dumbfounded. How Satan can so distract that in two hours, they can forget or put it aside. It is also a matter of priorities. I can’t expect these people who have never once come to my church to put it first before making money, talking with friends, etc. They need much encouragement! And most importantly much prayer.